Last week, a Bronx grand jury indicted Correction Captain Larry Davis Jr. for hitting an inmate with a baton after the inmate assaulted Davis's brother, who is a correction officer working in the same jail, the Village Voice has learned.

The criminal case against Davis has sparked a wave of criticism of Bronx prosecutors, the DOC, and the Department of Investigation from Correction Department unions, who argue that he is being unfairly treated.They say Davis Jr. simply had an lapse in judgment, fully cooperated with the investigation, and gave statements admitting to the misconduct. And they criticize the department for assigning the two brothers to the same jail.

Commissioner Dora Schriro's Correction Department is failing to follow through on required annual firearms qualification for thousands of officers, in violation of its own regulations and state law, the Village Voice has learned.

Figures obtained by the Voice from a DOC database indicate that as of Oct. 1, half of the correction staff at the Anna M. Kross Center was not qualified on their firearms, 40 percent each at the Robert N. Davoren Center and the Brooklyn Detention Center, 38 percent each at the Otis Bantum Correctional Center and the Eric M. Taylor Center, and 21 percent at the George R. Vierno Center. These constitute the bigger jails in the system.

"Mayor Bloomberg has put a lot of emphasis on gun licensing and gun control, so it's disgraceful that so many Correction officers are not getting qualified," Sidney Schwartzbaum, the president of the association of deputy wardens and assistant deputy wardens, tells the Voice.

Matthew Matagrano, a convicted sex offender who posed as a jails investigator to sneak into various Rikers Island facilities, pleaded guilty Wednesday and will be sentenced to 15 years in prison.

And so ends one of the more bizarre sagas to cross the desk of Correction Commissioner Dora Schriro in her tenure. You would think most folks would like to escape Rikers rather than sneak their way in. The story was first reported in the Village Voice.

A dispute last week over a grilled cheese sandwich of all things led to a massive fight between two gangs in a city jail that was allowed by correction staff to continue for well over an hour without intervention, the Voice has learned.

One inmate--27-year-old drug suspect Roberto Rivera--had a broken broom handle jammed into his eye socket, and two other inmates were slashed in the incident, which took place in the George R. Vierno Center on Monday, August 5, at about 9:20 p.m., correction sources tell the Voice. A fourth inmate was punctured with a shank, possibly a repurposed kitchen knife.

In addition, the Voice has learned that the Manhattan District Attorney's office is investigating an incident in which Correction staff allegedly planted evidence, which also took place on July 11 at the Manhattan jail known as the Tombs. The Justice Department is also said to be nosing around.

The indictments to be announced tomorrow and the Manhattan D.A.'s investigation center on a shadowy "anti-violence task force" or "special search squad." The unit roamed the island off the books, assaulting at least two inmates and planted evidence in at least one case. The task force was sanctioned by top uniformed officers in the DOC.

Correction Commissioner Dora Schriro has a major problem: a massive breach of jail security. The Voice has learned that a convicted sex offender with a long rap sheet was recently able to repeatedly drive onto Rikers Island and roam jails and other highly secure areas over a period of more than week, right under the noses of dozens of clueless correction supervisors and officers.

Matthew Matagrano (pictured at right), was not an inmate during the period. The 36-year-old former resident of Yonkers and South Ozone Park is listed as a high-risk sex offender in the state's registry. Matagrano has a record of convictions for sodomy, first-degree sex abuse, burglary, and, not surprisingly, criminal impersonation. He has been arrested more than a dozen times, and has served several stints on Rikers.

Okay folks, admittedly we're kind of hard on the Correction Department. We've published a bunch of articles about bad goings on out in the Rikers Island jails in recent years. But this time, we're going to throw some kudos to Commissioner Dora Schriro and Mayor Bloomberg for starting a new program to help prevent inmates from returning to jail once they are released. (Just under half of adult inmates who get out of jail go back within a year.)